An entrancing, informative STEM saga.
An ancient planet tells her story.
Meet Theia! Named after the “extremely extraordinary” Greek goddess of light, the chipper orange planet recounts the origins of the solar system. Back then, Earth was “a great big, fiery ball of molten rock,” much like Theia. In fact, the two quickly became “besties”…until the momentous day when Theia, caught in Earth’s gravity, helplessly crashed into her BFF and was obliterated. Most of Theia was swallowed up by Earth, “but the rest of me was catapulted into space along with the broken pieces of Earth” to become—the moon! Theia’s collision tipped Earth’s axis (“Sometimes one part of Earth leans toward the sun, getting more light and warmth. That’s what you humans call summer!”), resulting in the four seasons. The seasons enthusiastically introduce themselves as Theia explains how Earth developed life. A concise summary, a list of “Space Facts,” information on the discovery of Theia, and a list of “Big Questions Scientists Are Still Asking” conclude this dynamic epic. An exuberant tone enlivens this thorough, accessible introduction: Sassy, personable Theia refers to her namesake deity as a “proper butt-kicking goddess” and dubs herself the “super-awesome lost planet of the solar system.” With cinematic flair, the narrative zips along, its abundant art dominated by hot red oranges set against cool blues. Though the personified astronomical bodies wear smiling faces, the science is otherwise accurate.
An entrancing, informative STEM saga. (Graphic nonfiction. 7-11)Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9798895090770
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Post Wave Children's Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive dunk into a vast subject—and on course for shorter attention spans.
In the wake of Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts! (2019), Lowery spins out likewise frothy arrays of facts and observations about sharks, whales, giant squid, and smaller but no less extreme (or at least extremely interesting) sea life.
He provides plenty of value-added features, from overviews of oceanic zones and environments to jokes, drawing instructions, and portrait galleries suitable for copying or review. While not one to pass up any opportunity to, for instance, characterize ambergris as “whale vomit perfume” or the clownfish’s protective coating as “snot armor,” he also systematically introduces members of each of the eight orders of sharks, devotes most of a page to the shark’s electroreceptive ampullae of Lorenzini, and even sheds light on the unobvious differences between jellyfish and the Portuguese man-of-war or the reason why the blue octopus is said to have “arms” rather than “tentacles.” He also argues persuasively that sharks have gotten a bad rap (claiming that more people are killed each year by…vending machines) and closes with pleas to be concerned about plastic waste, to get involved in conservation efforts, and (cannily) to get out and explore our planet because (quoting Jacques-Yves Cousteau) “People protect what they love.” Human figures, some with brown skin, pop up occasionally to comment in the saturated color illustrations. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 45% of actual size.)
An immersive dunk into a vast subject—and on course for shorter attention spans. (bibliography, list of organizations) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-35973-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another terrific case study on the power of a big idea to work profound changes in our lives.
How rows of rocks evolved into the intricate circuitry that runs our homes, drives our cars, and orders our pizza.
Brown lets al-Khwārizmī, the Muslim mathematician who popularized Arabic/Hindu numbers (most notably, for Brown’s purposes here, “0” and “1”), take the role of tour guide. He squires readers through centuries of watershed developments from the abacus and mechanical Pascaline calculator to the punch cards of Joseph-Marie Jacquard, ENIAC, IBM, the transistor, and robots. Closing with an explanation of the Turing test, he offers a mildly cautionary view of the increasingly pervasive roles computers play in our daily lives (“will they be doing all the thinking for us?”) and an appended disquisition on binary numbers. Along the way he chronicles both major and incremental advances as well as offering nods to significant thinkers and doers familiar (Ada Lovelace, Steve Jobs) or otherwise—notably Jean Jennings and six other women charged with figuring out how to program ENIAC but not invited to its unveiling. Though he acknowledges in an afterword that his cast is largely White, European, and male he does what he can throughout to diversify it…and cogently observes at the end that the “domination of the West in the sciences has ended.” Panels are drawn in a loose style that lightens the substantial informational load.
Another terrific case study on the power of a big idea to work profound changes in our lives. (endnotes, timeline) (Graphic nonfiction. 8-11)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4098-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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